The birth of digital populism — physical copies available

The birth of digital populism. Crowd, power and postdemocrarcy in the 21st century is a collection of interviews edited by the Obsolete Capitalism collective. English and Italian thinkers answer questions related to a few eternal concepts of political philosophy such as crowd, power, control with a particular focus on the unexpected electoral success of the Five Star Movement(5SM), a self-defined 'non-party' led by Beppe Grillo and Gianroberto Casaleggio. The 5SM obtained a resounding success in the Italian general election of 24th 25th February 2013, a moment after which the panorama of Italian politics deeply changed.

This book seeks to investigate the novelty which characterise the emergence of a new political phenomenon: that of digital populism. Are we facing the beginning of a change in governmental policy and representative democracy as we know it? Far from being an Italian anomaly, populism is a firmly Western phenomenon, both in its analog and digital versions. The english equivalent is UKIP, an extremely seductive and therefore equally dangerous anti-establishment right-wing situation.
Six questions were formulated, touching on fundamental aspects of the rise of digital populism and the relationships between masses, power, and post-democracy at the dawn of the twenty-first century.

The birth of digital populism. Crowd, power and postdemocrarcy in the 21st century is the result of nine interviews conducted between May 2013 and February 2014 by Luciana Parisi, Tiziana Terranova, Lapo Berti, Simon Choat, Paolo Godani, Saul Newman, Jussi Parikka, Tony D. Sampson and Alberto Toscano.The book is released free of charge and can be read and downloaded on Issuu (IT, UK). If you would like a physical copy get in touch directly with Obsolete Capitalism.